A Conversation In A Shed
by RonaldAndMione
Summary: Arthur and Ron talk a few months after the war. A story about father and son, that contains - because it is me, after all - a hefty dose of Ron/Hermione.


**A Conversation In A Shed**

That Sunday morning, the lazy sun was shining over south-west England. Devon was lit up by its presence and most were enjoying the rare occurrence. Not everyone, though. In Ottery St. Catchpole, in a home called The Burrow, a father was cooped up in his shed, analysing a funny, foreign object, ignoring the beautiful day outside.

There was a knock on the door and Arthur put down his tools and the pear-shaped... thing... and glanced up.

"Hey, Dad," Ron said, putting his hands in his pockets the minute he'd gotten his father's attention. "Mum wants me to get you out of here. Says it's time you got some fresh air."

Arthur chuckled. "I'll be out in a moment."

"Okay," Ron said, then, after a pause, took a tentative step into the shed and peered over at the table his dad was working at. "What are you doing?"

Arthur held up the strange thing to his face to get a better look at it. "I'm trying to figure out what the function of this glass pear is."

"Merlin, I'm hungry," Ron murmured, then stepped closer.

"I'm sure your mother can make something for you before you and George leave."

"Nah, we're supposed to be going in a few minutes," Ron told him. "Shop opens up in about half an hour and we've got to set it up. A lot of last minute customers came and we were so exhausted we decided not to clean up. Came straight home." Noticing his father's frustration, Ron leaned over, extending his hand. "Here, let me take a look."

Arthur gratefully gave him the unidentified object. Ron took it in his hands, looked at it for a second, and then his lips curved into a grin.

"Yeah," he said, letting out a small laugh. "I know what this is."

"You do?" Arthur asked anxiously. "What? What is it?"

"It's a light thing..." Ron said, furrowing his eyebrows. "Light... bum, no, sorry, barl... bulb! Light bulb. It's a light bulb. Hermione showed it to me."

"Light bulb," Arthur repeated to himself, getting used to the name. "And what exactly does it do?"

"It produces light," Ron said. "I don't really know how it works – something to do with eckeltricity or something - but Hermione said it's like the lumos spell for us. You just flick some switch and the thing lights up. Flick it back and it turns off."

"Interesting," Arthur said, taking it back from Ron and trying to find the switch.

"It's got to be connected to something... wires or whatever," Ron told him. "This bulb thing goes into their lamps and their lamps are connected to the wires and some outlet thing and that's how it works." Despite the fact that he was the one explaining it, Ron seemed extremely confused.

"Ah, that's disappointing," Arthur said, and placed it back on the table along with his other Muggle artefacts. "When did she show you this?"

"A few weeks ago, actually," said Ron, taking a seat on one of Arthur's chairs. He sat backwards, so that his arms could rest comfortably on the back rest. "Last time I went over to her parents' house for dinner, remember?"

"Ah, yes," Arthur acknowledged, remembering that night. Ron was starting to get along quite well with the Grangers. He'd been over to their home a number of times. Arthur pointed that out. "They must like you quite a bit."

"I hope so," Ron said, sighing and running a hand through his messy hair. In the past few weeks Molly had begun insisting he cut it. "I really, really want them to like me."

Arthur smiled, remembering how nervous he'd been when he was first introduced to Molly's parents. "Of course they do, Ron. Why wouldn't they?"

Ron glanced up at him, his eyes wide and a little surprised. "There're _plenty_ of reasons," he said simply.

Arthur frowned. "I don't see any."

"I bicker with Hermione all the time," Ron started, "I always hurt her, even when I don't mean to—"

"They know you don't mean to," Arthur said. "And they know how much you love her. Parents can tell, and they like that. They just want to make sure their daughter is with someone who truly loves and respects her. That's all. It's why I'm so pleased about Ginny and Harry."

"You can't really say that," Ron said. "You've known Harry since he was eleven! You liked him before he even realised there was such _thing_ as fancying girls! Hermione's parents barely knew me before this summer. I was just the tall ginger kid who argued with her all the time. Believe me, it's a lot harder for me than Harry." He paused for but a brief moment. "_And_," he said loudly, "if he was in my place, and had to introduce himself to a girl's parents for the first time as her boyfriend, he'd still have it a lot better than me."

"Why's that?" Arthur asked, sitting down on a chair too.

Ron stared at him with a look that silently screamed _isn't it obvious? _"He's Harry _Potter_!" Ron exclaimed. "And I'm just... the awkward, average friend. Any parent would much rather have Harry dating their kid than me. It's why I've got to work twice as hard to get them to like me."

"Ron," Arthur said softly. "I'm sure that isn't true."

"Of course it is," Ron said.

"Ron, you're a talented, extremely likeable young man."

Ron's eyes widened a little. They were soft and slightly vulnerable. "Really?" he finally said. "You... you really mean that?"

It hurt Arthur that Ron was so shocked. "Of course I mean that, why on earth would I not?"

"No, it's just..." his voice trailed off and he seemed to hesitate before he continued. "You've never said anything like that to me before."

Arthur opened his mouth to deny that claim but before anything came out he closed it. Ron was right. Ron was absolutely right. The fact that Ron was right hurt Arthur. How could he have neglected Ron so much to the point that he couldn't remember the last time he'd given him a compliment?

How long ago was it that he began to not know his own son?

"You're right," he said simply, ashamed.

"It's all right," Ron said hastily. "Really, it's all right—"

"It is not all right!" Arthur said, slamming his hand on his desk. It hurt a little, but it was the least of his worries. He rarely got upset but this had really struck him hard.

"You were busy, Dad, I get it," Ron assured him. "I really do. You always had to work late, trying to come up with enough for all of us, and then when you got home there'd be so many of us that it'd be difficult for you to find a lot of time—"

"I should have found it," Arthur said, his voice low and grave. "I should never have made you feel neglected or unimportant."

"It wasn't you," Ron said. "I did that enough on my own... but I get that you and mum were busy trying to give us the best lives you could and... and I think you two did a great job, really."

The pride Arthur felt when Ron uttered those words could not be underestimated. He wondered when Ron had grown up. It pained him that he had missed it.

"Thank you," he said, swallowing down a lump in his throat. "Thank you, Ron." He then made a promise to himself, and he wanted Ron to witness it. "And, I'm sorry I haven't been around that much, but I hope it isn't too late, because I want to make up for it. With all of you."

Ron smiled. "Sounds good," he said.

"So," Arthur began, leaning back in his chair a little. "How've you been? What have you been up to?"

Ron let out a small laugh. "Not much," he said.

"Now, come on," Arthur persisted. "You and George, what's happening at your store?"

Ron shrugged. "Everything's the same, really. We're selling the daydream charms quite quickly."

"Ah, all right," Arthur said, genuinely interested. It'd been a long time since he had spoken to someone about trivial things. It seemed that for the last few years, all anyone had ever spoken about was war.

"And just before Hogwarts started last week, everyone was coming in and getting Skiving Snackboxes," Ron said. "I feel sort of sorry for the teachers. They're going to be in for it."

"And was Hermione one of the customers?" Arthur smiled, already knowing the answer.

Ron snorted. "Of course not. I didn't tell her about the sudden rise in sales. She's going to be as busy as the teachers, trying to stop all the kids from taking them." He laughed. "She's going to kill me next time she sees me."

"When will that be?"

Ron's smile faded. "Usually the first Hogsmeade weekend is in October, something like that... I'm not going to see her on her birthday."

Arthur felt sorry for him. "It must be difficult."

Ron nodded slowly and cast his eyes at the ground. "I'll get used to it," he replied. He then let out a huff. He seemed to have a battle with himself before finally raising his eyes, looking straight at his father and blurting out, "I'm gonna ask her to marry me."

Arthur's eyes widened and Ron quickly elaborated.

"Not right away, of course. I mean, she's only just started Hogwarts and we've only just started... us... and... and we're still really young and I think that... we almost _deserve_ to wait a few years, cause we don't have to rush into anything anymore and we've got heaps of time now, and I want her to have the best wedding and best _life_ she could ever have and so I've got to save up for it, so it'll take some time, but I'm just... just letting you know that... that she's It for me, Dad." He gave his father an almost sheepish smile, looking a little embarrassed. "She's... she's It. And I'm gonna ask her to marry me. Someday."

Arthur watched his son for a moment, trying to process everything Ron had just said. It made him so proud that his son had entrusted him with this. Arthur knew he wouldn't be telling anyone this, not even Molly. He also knew that he needed to let his son know how much this meant to him. "You really are a remarkable young man, Ron."

Ron's ears turned red and he bashfully looked back down at the ground. "Thanks."

"I don't want you to think otherwise. Your mother and I... we're so proud of you."

Ron glanced up at him. He stared for a long time. Finally, he swallowed and, eyes not leaving his father's, said "Thanks, Dad," with pure honesty and gratefulness.

It was then that Arthur realised that Ron never blamed him for not being around as much as they'd both have liked, and that Ron too wanted to start over and make up for lost time. The aftermath of a war was a good time to start over, and Arthur vowed, at that moment, that he would spend more time with his children. Sadly, it was too late for one, but he had six others whom he cherished and whilst they were all around, he needed to show them.

And a few years later, Arthur had kept his promise. His relationship with his children had improved significantly, and they all made time for one another. His relationship with Ron had blossomed in particular, Arthur noted, and he had a feeling that Ron knew this too.

Because, just before the doors opened to reveal Hermione, Ron didn't look at his best man, or his sister, or any of his brothers, or his mother. He cast a quick, nervous glance at his dad and smiled hopefully. Then, he took a deep breath and turned to look straight ahead.

Everyone turned to look at the bride, everyone but Arthur. He knew, anyway, that she looked wonderful, simply because he saw how his son's face changed as he took in her beauty. Instead, he watched his son, remembering a conversation shared in a shed a few years ago.

The look that father and son shared lasted for the briefest of seconds, but that moment was imprinted in Arthur's mind for the rest of his life.

_A/N I'm not entirely pleased with this, especially the conclusion (which I spent over an hour trying to fix) but I had the idea of Ron talking to his dad about Hermione in my head for over a year and I needed to finally write it and post it before I exploded. I seem to have been gripped with a severe case of writer's block, leaving me with little inspiration and not very good writing. I've been on school holiday this month but didn't get much written down, and now school is starting up again and I'm facing my toughest year yet, which means I'll be extremely busy and for the time being, updates from me won't be as often as they were last year._

_I'm trying to experiment this year, and writing from Arthur's POV was quite different. I hope I did well - let me know what you think. I've got two other stories, one of which will be from the POV of a character who we know very little about, which I am looking forward to showing you all. I can only improve with your help so please, leave a review letting me know how I went with this one._

_This has been labelled as Ron/Hermione because it contains a good helping of it and besides family, I think this also belongs in the romance category, and labelling it as Arthur/Ron will lead some people to assume things that are incorrect._


End file.
